NORTH Sea-focused Serica Energy has started production from a field it found in 2006 through a development it said would provide much-needed energy for the UK while making the most of existing facilities in the area.
The company brought the Columbus gas field onstream east of Aberdeen on Wednesday after facing a range of challenges on the project.
Columbus has been tied in to the Shearwater platform. Serica reckons that by going down this route it has been able to reduce the environmental impact of the development compared with a greenfield scheme.
Chief executive Mitch Flegg noted: “Serica’s approach to increasing its production base and providing much needed energy to the UK while seeking lower carbon emission solutions, has been achieved by using shared existing infrastructure to progress the development of Columbus.”
Serica worked on the project for years before agreeing the terms for access to infrastructure operated by other firms. Last month the company said it faced a short delay in starting production from Columbus as the Shell-operated Shearwater platform was running at restricted capacity
READ MORE: Cambo - curb on North Sea developments could jeopardise jobs in Scotland
Meanwhile, Neptune Energy has said it has passed a milestone in the development of the Seagull field east of Aberdeen, which will be linked to facilities operated by BP.
Neptune has installed subsea well equipment along with umbilicals that be use to take output to the ETAP production platform 17 kilometres distant.
Its UK managing director, Alexandra Thomas, said: “The Seagull project is a fundamentally important part of Neptune’s strategic growth plans.”
READ MORE: North Sea exploration vital amid fears about reliance on imports, says regulator
Neptune is developing Seagull with BP and Japex. First oil is expected in 2023
Serica worked on a plan to develop Columbus using facilities operated by the former BG, which decided not to proceed with the project. Shell acquired BG for $47 billion in 2015.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel